cAn'T sLeEp
by faller02
Summary: Gravity Falls One-Shot


Nightmares had always been a problem to him. They've always lurked in the night, searching for a victim, which so happens to be 12-year-old Dipper Pines. This particular nightmare had pushed him to his limit, for reasons. There had been nightmares almost every day, all week long, non-stop when he slept. This one, just like the others, had been haunted by the very familiar triangle demon. His cackles echoed in the air as the boy was running for his life as the blue staircase shattered on every step he took. His dream ended with him plunging into darkness, red beady eyes staring right at him before he awoke. He sat up, breathing fast and sweating. This one may have not been as bad as some others...but a question went through his head. One nobody likely had the answer to, not even 12-PHD Stanford Pines. Why force yourself to sleep when all you get to do is be tortured? Dipper pondered the thought, sitting upwards in his bed, the only one in the room. Why? It's 12pm. Why so late? It almost seemed as if the nightmares consumed his time so he wouldn't have to leave. So he could just come back and play another one of their 'Games'. He stayed in the bed with crumpled papers and pens. Yes, Stan had called him down for dinner after a couple hours, but he wasn't hungry. It wasn't until a couple hours later someone came in. That someone, was his sister.

"Hey Dippin' Dotz! Where have ya been all day? You missed it! The girls and I had a huge waterballoon fight! You should've seen it!"

"I've just been…..thinking.." He responded, muttering as he stared into his book, which he was currently reading. Basically, that's what he did all day. Read through books. But these weren't the normal Mystery-Hunting-Solving ones. These were the ones about history and dreams. He had been trying to find some way to cure nightmares, even if that was possible. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in _such_ a long time he forgot what it felt like.

"Oh yeah? Thinking about what?" Mabel asked, trying to peer over his shoulder, which he just moved so it blocked her eye-sight's path.

"...Things.."

"Like?"

He was losing his temper, not because he thought she was annoying, of course he wouldn't. But because of his lack of sleep. No matter how many hours he slept, when he got nightmares, hours felt like minutes, and it resulted in tired eyes. "JUST STUFF! Now leave me alone!" He shouted before turning his back to her. It was silent for the moment, before he heard creaking wood from the floor. As well as footsteps.

"...It's your nightmares again...isn't it..?"

Bingo. She got it spot-on. Maybe she recognized his attitude, or the fact he was up in the attic all day long. Now, Dipper had told her some of his nightmares before, some including what might've been hints. Or felt like them at least. In response, he said nothing but turned around slightly to see her standing over him, looking at him, worried.

"Dipper….you know if there's anything you want to talk about...anything at all...I'll be here for you broseph. Every step of the way."

"I know…" He muttered softly to her.

"That's good...well….night Dip.." His sister said before walking back over to her bed, snuggling in her comforter with her warm, soft, comforting plushies. It was less than 10 minutes before she fell asleep.

The twins used to talk away the night until they got sleepy, but that was occasionally now. The 12-year-old boy rubbed his eyes and sat straight up once more. Despite being tired, which was normal, he wasn't going to let sleep drag him into another one of the nightmare games he hated so. He had tried dreamcatchers before, which didn't work. He tried store-bought, Mabel-crafted, specially-made, found-in-the-old-attic-room ones. But none worked. Heck, he could put a million over his bed and it wouldn't change a single thing. Though, that didn't seem like a bad idea as of now. He flipped through pages and pages, blacklights used if necessary. His head from time to time, jerked up and down, trying to stay awake. He lost track of time, that is until he heard a hushed whisper from across the room. It said his name. He turned, and Mabel was staring at him, awake for some reason.

"Dipper...have you gotten any sleep yet…?"

The boy shook his head no. And answered the best to his ability, hoping she would understand. "I don't want to sleep. My mind has the scary capability of being dark and demented."

She blinked and looked at him. "You're afraid of your dreams…?"

"Yes." He said, quietly and looking down.

"Dip….Bro..you need sleep."

"But what's the point, Mabel? I go to sleep every night, for what? For torture? It's like entering a sick game. It's like participating in the Hunger Games. Mabel, it's a death trap. A bloodbath. And I'm tired of placing a part in them."

She stared, blinking. She had no idea he felt that way...but seriously, he was starting to get bags under his eyes. "Dip….Dipper you're going to need to sleep. Look, I know you have bad dreams but-"

"NO! YOU DON'T KNOW!" He screamed, unexpectedly at his sister, who flinched. He took a shaky breath and calmed his voice down. "I-I'm tired of everyone saying they know. How they know I feel. I want them to stop lying. I want _you_ to stop lying. Nobody will ever know how _I_ feel. Just…" He took another breath before looking at her. "I'll be fine okay?"

"...Dipper I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't help...I'm sorry you get these dreams...I just...I'm worried for you bro...I really am…"

"There's nothing _to_ worry about. Look, I said I would be okay, so I mean I'll be okay. You worry about yourself and sleep. I'm taking care of my sleep-...problems. I'll sleep sometime soon, okay?"

"I...okay…" She turned over to the other side of the wall, clutching her stuffed animal. Well, one of them. "Night Dipper…" She whispered before it went back to silence.

Things were silent. Except the occasional page-turn sound, or clicking of his pen. His head shot up every once in a while after seeing movement from closets. He thought he heard the psychotic, familiar laughter ringing out in his skull. His eyes moved around warily. Seeing nothing, he decided it was just sleep effects. But then it keep ringing out in his skull. It pierced his ears. He covered them, silently begging for it all to just stop.

' _If you wanted it to all just stop, why didn't ya say so Pine Tree?'_

Oh great. Now he was hearing things. And particularly things he preferred not to hear right now, or infact, at all. But did he have a choice? "Look, I don't need your help. So back off and leave me alone." He snapped back at the demon's voice.

' _Yeesh kid. Okay okay. If you say so...but I could make it all go away. Make it all so that you won't have any nightmares. Wouldn't that be splendid!'_ He said, mocking. Taunting the boy.

For once, it did seem tempting. That was what he was trying to do, and haven't succeeded in anything yet. Maybe if he just-...no….nono what was he thinking?! This is Bill. The one who turned him into a living sock puppet. The one who _USED_ him as a puppet. "I….no! Nono! I just...can't!"

' _Ah, I see. That's fine. You can just go back to playing, participating, into those little 'games'. Can't you then?'_ As if on cue, shadows from the closets in the Twins' room slipped from underneath the door, seeping through cracks, and were now surrounding the boy. White glowing eyes stood out from the black figure.

The 12-year-old let out a squeak of terror. "NONO STOP!"

Just then, they did. The shadows stared at him blankly. ' _Oh? But I thought you WANTED nightmares. I mean, from what you're saying, that's what it sounds like.'_

"N-nono I just….I…"

' _Come on kid, an agreement never hurt anyone...right?'_

"I….o-okay…" He really did want the nightmares to go away, and for who knows, those black creatures could come out and drag him under the bed, clawing up his skin with their razor-sharp claws.

' _Great choice Pine Tree! No nightmares...and in return you gotta trust me. That's simple enough, right? You just gotta put your trust into the hands of me.'_

"T-trust...you...I….wasn't I supposed to do that earlier..?"

' _Yep, but trust is a powerful thing Pine Tree, very powerful. So agreed? You trust me to make this happen?'_

"I…." Dipper paused, sure, he did ruin his life...several times….maybe….maybe this was a bad idea. "W-wait! I don't want to m-make this deal any-"

' _DEAL!'_ Oh shoot. Oh nonono. He said the word. He said Deal. He shouldn't have. He shouldn't have even thought about it. No backing out now. ….Everything turned a tinted red...everything was either black or red. Like nightmare-horror movies. The boy began to breath fast, and turned to the mirror, who had a reflection of him, but except, the reflection had yellow-slitted pupils. Grinning, and pulled himself out of the mirror.

"I-I...I trusted y-you! Y-your side of the deal! Y-you said-"

' _I know what I said! I said no NIGHTmares. You never said I couldn't make your life one.' He said, grinning. 'And you can't exactly blame me for that, can you? It was your mistake.'_ With that, Dipper jerked awake, he had fallen asleep on his book while studying. Man, what a nightmare….or was it…? He was floating in the air, staring down at a limp, noodle-armed, noodle-legged body. His body. It was limp...before it regained balance and stood up, his eyes glinting yellow before creeping over to the boy's sleeping sister.


End file.
